Episode 1,005: My Review of Star Wars: The Visual Encyclopedia

Today’s the start of four days – just four, not 15 like with the Rogue One Ultimate Visual Guide – of talking about Star Wars: The Visual Encyclopedia, the new reference book from DK Publishing. (The folks at DK were kind enough to send me an advance copy for this review.)

I’ve always been a little gun-shy about getting books like these, because for all intents and purposes, this one will be outdated very soon. With three novels coming out in the next month or so, not to mention The Last Jedi on the horizon, and all those comic books … well, you do the math.

But when I stop thinking with the “collector” side of my brain and access who the real Star Wars audience is – kids! – the book is a sheer delight. And I found it immersive to a bigger and better degree than the Rogue One guide, not because of any fault of the R1 Guide, though. It was more about the incredibly immersive experience of The Visual Encyclopedia, and the fact that there’s so much out there in the galaxy which has been world-built by Lucas and company, you feel like there’s a value to the deep dive you’re about to take with the book.

And the book is spectacularly put together, content and design-wise. Gorgeous visual spreads mixed in with data-heavier ones, all while helping to tell the story of the galaxy in a whole new light.

Are you excited for this book to come out (which is did today)? Have your say in the comments!